Oh sorry.
Did your aunt send you this already?
Thought so.
OK, this is the most sent-around-ha-ha-look-at-the-duck photo evar, but did you SEE little Ducksters McTockersons there?
w00t!
way to go, Elisabeth F. Send this photo to 20 of your friends before three days pass, and you’ll receive good luck.
Here is the real story behind the duck photo, thanks to Donncha O.
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Please. ‘Shopped. No duck would do that for less than a Benjamin.
I admit, I’ve not seen this.
If it’s photoshopped, they did a darn good job of it – the shadows line up and everything.
Mom should be ashamed teaching her ducklets to pock peck.
I mean Peck Pock. QUackers
Distract the “mark” with some eye-candy while the con-artist does the job. ‘Tis one of the oldest tricks in the business…
So if I hand someone baby ducklettes, I can get their money easier? *contemplates* Baby ducklettes, money… baby ducklettes, money… Sorry, I gotta keep the ducklettes. *runs away with handful of feather floooof*
this gives me an idea! where did my cat go…..
Verrrry cute, but mama must be a vampire duck, because she’s not showing up in the mirror (or am I mistaken?)!
Never mind, closer inspection shows it’s plexiglass… Drat those fake vampire ducks!
You know–I haven’t seen this either.
‘tocks up little Quackersons!
I think the duck’s feet look a bit, well, dried up? Like it hasn’t worn them outside in some time? Ducket tocklets are cute, though.
I see a reflection of the big ducky in the glass.
Ducks these days, with their loud quacking and eating all the time and peckpocketing … This what happens when ducks are allowed to run amuck!
*tsk tsk*
I’m pretty sure the momma duck is a fake duck, look at the feet. I think the picture was for some bank.
Anyways here’s more info.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/duckthief.asp
Kiskasmom: A Vampire duck! Haha quick somebody call Dangermouse! He’ll save the gullible lady!
oi! a rule six, sevuhn, and thirty-dos!
So thats how he pays the bills when your injured and can work!
AFLAC!!!
Darn, Rafel beat me to the Aflac joke!
I was going to say that the AFLAC company must have fallen on hard times, but I like yours better. 
i must live under a rock, cause i have never seen this.
If you look carefully, you can see the duck’s reflection. I doubt this was shopped, but it probably was a set up!
Aw, an ad? That’s cool. It’s still mischievously cute.
I live under that same rock, carmen.
Oh, and yay for “Cute animals” being the number one search on Yahoo today, esp since CO is the first site that pops up.
I don’t know why a duck would do this.. In fact I have it on good authority that “Ducks eat for free at Subway”
r.i.p. mitch.
this is funny…
does it matter if it is fake or not, cute is all that matters!
And that’s cute.
does it matter if it is fake or not, cute is all that matters!
And that’s cute.
I thnk it’s funny how everyone is commenting on whether it’s a real picture or not, etc.
STAGED! but real.
sheesh…now I’m doing it!
I too have been living under a rock. muy cute. The little duckling tocks made me happy.
AFLAC!
OMG, I did get this one from my Aunt! For reals. How did she know? (shifty eyes)
Clearly the duck needs the bucks to buy more fish food.
I wish that purse was plaid. Pretend, ‘K?
Duck bills plaid purse.
The Aflac duck is grifting people right after the marketing folks decided to axe him.
(Though, he’s back in business! http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/02/20/aflac-duck-to-quack-no-more/ )
pyrit, you’re so clever!
So I read the article from Bxtn’s post about this being staged, and while the mom duck looks rather fake, the baby ducks look surprisingly real. In fact, I choose to believe they ARE real.
Fluffy duck ‘tocks!!!!!
A big bill peck pocking for big bills.
The snopes site says the ducks were props–NOT live ducks. The adult definitely looks stuffed to me. Enjoy your cute dead ducks! sorry to harsh the cute.
The decision to harsh the cute was yours.
Yah, yah, whatevs.
Laurie C. – (Blush) Thanks, but it was terri-bill.
For jools –
I’m in ur waddle-let, ab-duck-ting yer bills.
Meg – My eyes went straight to the wee ‘uns widdle tocks-up too. Well, right after, Oh pretty lady!
Is nothing sacred? An ab-duck-tion of dollars througout the city of is Billings, Montana.
This is so funny! I like it. Anyway, keep sending in pictures like this.
Photos/ads like this, staged or otherwise, give duckers a bad name…we had ducks when I was a kid & our ducks NEVER stole money from us…though I never found the watch my mom gave me…hmmm…
tick tock ducks!
vewy kewt!
Is the aflac duck unemployed, that the wife must use the kids as decoys to keep the food dishes full , the rent paid . what does this all mean LOL
A duckie, a pocket
I’ve opened up ur wallet
Now I’m cleaning out your bills.
Lurvin’ my babehs, u got ur thrills.
I’m not a poet
And I know it.
Sign.
hee. he’s got bills in his bill. Nice double-billing.
You’re right; I’m not sorry to harsh the cute when I see something I think is faked or a dead animal. Squeeing over dead stuffed animals seems just a little strange to me.
What about the woman? She’s cute too!
That’s true, I remember seeing this picture in my inbox and on Freeple back in November:
http://www.freeple.com/blog/2006/11/04/aflac-insurance-fraud-be-careful-of-the-duck/
Yes, oaklandcat, it does take a certain abillity.
Those adorable, fluffy, thieving bastards!
Aubrey, whatsis about ducks in Billings? I’m from Montana and that caught my attention.
I doubt the animals are taxidermy specimens, if anyone was concerned about them being THAT kind of “stuffed” or “fake” animal. Feathers rarely look natural and smooth, the fluff would be nigh impossible to attain, and the face would most likely look slightly squished or distorted.
(I’ve work at a museum…)
*workED
And though it may be hard to fathom, I’m actually an English tutor now. I just type at a different pace from my brain activity and auto-corrections
Also, and probably most importantly, the animals aren’t “stuffed” with filling like toys, but are on plastic molds. This duck is in an unusual position, and would have to be on a specially made mold. It would be cheaper and easier to have entirely fake ducks and ducklings made.
Hi R. I’m just relaying what the snopes page on this photo says. Quote: “The ducks seen in the photograph were props, not live animals”. I tend to believe snopes. Funny though, I used to put up museum skins myself (not the same as taxidermy), and what I noticed was the legs and feet of that duck, and it’s overall stiff lumpiness (esp. the breast). The chicks look fake to me too.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/duckthief.asp
Angela: I checked out the snopes page, too
I didn’t think much of the lumpiness because that’s what my ducks (live ones, I only support taxidermy as educational tools, and only mounts of animals that died naturally) have always looked like. But you’re right about the feet. They look very fake, which leads me to suspect plastic rather than the more life-like feet of a mount.
Don’t mean to start a fight, just trying to help.
Aha! As soon as I saw the pic I knew it was some shoot in progress! Quack quack qteness!
Another Angela – I assume those are plastic props, and since both you and R. Moore are right about the unnatural lumpiness, so that makes it more likely. Just because the ducks are “props, not live animals” does not automatically mean taxidermy.
Oops – My grammar is wrong – strike out the “so” and add an “it” after “live animals”. Goes on to show you shouldn’t be working on a Saturday.
Yes, Aubrey, it’s pretty incredibill.
Hmm… that bird is up to no good!
I would of turned around and smaked that duck silly hes a robber/player
Thsoe duckling tocks are cute whether the picture is staged or not…. Too, too cute <3
Forgive me people, but methinks the cutest in the pic is the lady
Is it bad that I can tell which city this picture is from by the grate around the tree and the design of the bus stop? Any other Chicago people out there?
Just like Tijuana!!!
Sean: They have those grates in Seattle, Oakland, and San Francisco, if I remember correctly. But this picture WAS shot in Chicago. I didn’t recognize the bus stop as a bus stop
LOL, Sean, I was thinking the exact same thing. I too live in Chicago, and recognized the bus stop and tree grate right away. Funny.
Sean and Adam — sure, good eyes… but WHICH bus stop is it, eh?
That duck is robbing that lady!
Hey there, I took this photo and I would really appreciate a link back to where it originally came from: http://inphotos.org/the-thieving-duck/
Thanks!
Donncha.
Donncha — um. I’d like to help, but I think two things: 1) I can’t help being a bit skeptical, given today’s date, and 2) You just posted the link back, yourself, didn’t you?…
In all seriousness, though, please direct inquiries like this to Meg directly, at “cuteoverload[AT]frostdesign[DOT]net”
Hey Theo, thanks for the response. Just composing that email now. Take a look at the Flickr page linked from my blog post above. I certainly can’t coax Flickr into changing the post dates just for me
Making a contribution to his Aflac account, no doubt, for all his hard work in those commercials.
Haha! This is amazing.
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